Norway selects Tromsoe, north of Arctic Circle, for 2014 Olympic bid

Norway selects Tromsoe, north of Arctic Circle, for 2014 Olympic bid{mosimage}Norway took a step towards becoming the first hosts of an Arctic Winter Olympics on Tuesday when Norwegian sports chiefs backed the city of Tromsoe, as far north as Siberia or Alaska, for a 2014 bid.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports snubbed rival Lillehammer, which staged the 1994 Olympics, by picking Tromsoe which can almost guarantee snow despite global warming.

“We reckon that Lillehammer’s bid offered too little new,” sports president Kjell Kran told a news conference. But he said Norway would have to persuade the Olympic movement to delay the 2014 Games to March from February because of Arctic winter darkness.

The sun stays below the horizon for about two months in mid-winter, first rising in the city on January 21.

Kran added that some sports federations, like ice hockey, oppose Games in March because it would clash with other events.

A bid would also hinge on Tromsoe figuring out how to accommodate 22,000 people, ranging from athletes to tourists, on top of its 61,000 inhabitants. One plan is to charter a fleet of cruise ships that could bed moored in the city’s harbor.

Kran said the Norwegian state would have to guarantee 6.3 billion kroner ($935 million) of the costs that Tromsoe could not raise from television rights and other income. Norway, rich from North Sea oil, similarly bankrolled the Lillehammer Games.

Other applicants for the 2014 Games are likely to include Harbin in China, Annecy in France and Sofia in Bulgaria.

Kran noted that other nations had hosted the Olympic Games about two decades apart. The United States, for instance, staged the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid and the 2002 Games at Salt Lake City.

Turin will host the Winter Games in 2006 and Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010.